Joyful Learning through Play

When we were growing up, we would go out and play. We didn’t always have a plan. Sometimes we’d go to the park or to a friend’s house. We would go hiking down the gulch to pick guava or lilikoi, and other times, we’d join with friends to play games like Sky Inning or jacks. My Dad made the best kites with bamboo and newspaper, and we’d go fly kites at the park near our home. What great memories!

Our three sons had opportunities to explore and play albeit in a less natural environment. They went out to play with friends and neighbors, coming home to get a drink or to eat lunch then going out again. I didn't realize at the time that they were doing things which would have made me anxious. "That's why we didn't tell you," my son told me recently. There were gulches to hike down, open areas to explore, and hills to ride down on their bikes or scooters. In fact, one day, they brought this rock home; they thought it might be valuable. We never did find out what it was, but we kept it, just in case it had historical or cultural value. 

As an early childhood education major in college, I learned about Frederich Froebel who is widely regarded as the creator of kindergarten, "the children's kindergarten," Jean Piaget and his Stages of Play and Maria Montessori who said, "Play is the work of the child." I believed in play as essential for student growth. I embraced that idea as a preschool teacher and as a mom of three boys. Play was an integral part of our day, and observing how students interacted with the materials provided valuable data about the strengths, interests, and challenges of each student. When I taught first and second graders, it wasn't as easy to integrate playtime into our schedule but we managed to do so. The students loved that they could explore different activities whenever they completed their work or when we had free time. Being able to "play" was a motivator, and it taught students valuable skills such as working together, finding joy in creating something, taking turns, and communicating with their classmates to resolve a problem.

Whenever I read about Finnish schools or view videos like this or hear Emma Reppun share her experiences as a teacher in this What School Could Be podcast, I wish we could reimagine education to be less standardized and less structured. I believe that once we determined educational standards for what students should know and be able to do at each grade level, and when states, districts, schools and teachers were rated based on student test scores, we took the joy out of school for many students. Physical education, art, music, story time, and even recess were eliminated at some schools to ensure that all the standards were covered even though for many students and teachers, these were what motivated them to come to school.

I was looking back at my old blog posts for the one I wrote when our staff and our students were researching about recess..We used project-based learning strategies and called it “Recess for Learning”  I smiled when I recalled how invested our students were in imagining what recess could look like. (Read the blog here.)  I wish I could say we made major changes to recess that made a difference for our students, but after a trial period, our teachers shared concerns that we needed to address. I realized that it is difficult to change one's mindset about recess, and teachers were mainly concerned about safety. That, after all, is what we always preached: safety first. 

After visiting other schools, I realize that we were fortunate. Our school had three large open areas for recess. Students could play games, climb on the playground equipment, jump rope, play with hula hoops,  draw with chalk on sidewalks, dig in the dirt to look for insects, play musical instruments, or just sit on the colorful benches and talk story. As a staff, we agreed that recess should not be a punishment; that was a major concession for our teachers. As the principal, I tried to be out on the playground at recess, and it was an opportunity to see students in a different setting from the classroom. Some of our most challenging students were physically gifted, and that information was valuable as we moved forward to address the concerns. 

Children today need more opportunities for joyful play. I remember watching our grandsons at a park playing on the equipment. Kids who didn’t even know each other played together and took turns. The educator in me was a little concerned about safety, but the kids were all having fun, several of the kids took turns pushing even though there were no adults around to tell them what to do. It brought a huge smile to my face!

At this time when schools are addressing “learning loss” due to the pandemic, it is my hope that joyful play will not be eliminated. Our kids need to play!